Former cricket board chief arrested, released on bail

Mumbai, March 26 (IANS) Former chairman of the India’s cricket board Jagmohan Dalmiya was arrested by the Mumbai police Wednesday for alleged misappropriation of around Rs.29 million. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police arrested the ex chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and later produced him before a Mumbai court.

Within minutes of his arrest, Dalmiya was released on bail by the court for a surety of Rs.25,000.

Dalmiya was arrested after the Mumbai police filed a charge sheet against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy.

Advocate Satish Maneshinde who appeared for Dalmiya told IANS: “Under the sections levelled against Dalmiya, bail can be applied for and thus he was immediately released on bail.”

The case dates back to the 1996 one-day cricket world cup.

“The EOW recently completed its investigations into Dalmiya’s role in the case and has found him guilty of misappropriation of BCCI funds,” Joint commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria told IANS.

Once Sharad Pawar took over the helms at the BCCI, the board had in 2006 levelled accusations against Dalmiya over alleged misuse of the BCCI funds from a bank account opened during the 1996 World Cup.

The case pertains to an account opened in the Indian Overseas Bank by Dalmiya when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka jointly hosted the World Cup.

Dalmiya was authorized to operate this account along with an official from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

After the World Cup, the committee comprising officials from the three countries faced a number of income tax cases in India. Following this the committee decided that the account would be used only to meet expenses to fight these cases.

In 2006, when Pawar was elected BCCI president, Dalmiya closed the account.

BCCI asked Dalmiya to provide a record of funds spent from the account, alleging that Dalmiya had used Rs.2.17 million from the account for his personal use.